The present invention relates to a switched mode power supply transformer, particularly for a television receiver.
In communications transmissions devices, particularly in television receivers, it is known to effect the desired dc decoupling from the mains by means of so-called switched mode power supply transformers. Such switched mode power supply transformers are substantially smaller and lighter in weight than a mains transformer for the same power operating at 50 Hz, because they operate at a significantly higher frequency of about 20-30 kHz. Such a switched mode power supply transformer (hereinafter called SMPS transformer) generally includes a primary side with a primary winding serving as the operating winding for the switch and further additional auxiliary windings, as well as a secondary side with a secondary winding for generating the essential operating voltage and possibly further additional windings for generating further operating voltages of different magnitude and polarity. The secondary and primary are insulated from one another as prescribed by VDE and have the necessary dielectric strength so that there is no danger of contact between voltage carrying parts on the secondary. A switched mode power supply (SMPS) circuit for a tv-receiver is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,182, issued June 29, 1976.
A further requirement placed on such an SMPS transformer is that the stray inductance at least of the primary winding and of the secondary winding should be as small as possible. With too high a stray inductance, a transient behavior may develop during the switching operation which would not assure optimum switch operation of the switching transistor connected to the primary winding and would endanger this transistor by taking on too much power. Moreover, an increased stray inductance undesirably increases the internal resistance of the voltage sources for the individual operating voltages.
It is known to design the windings for such transformers as layered windings. Such layered windings, however, contain feathered intermediate foil layers and, after manufacture, generally require that the coil or the complete transformer be encased in order to insure VDE safety. Use as a chamber winding in television receivers presently does not take place because of the problems to be discussed below. A chamber winding would have the particular advantage that it could be wound more easily and economically by automatic machines. when using a chamber winding for a switched mode power supply, the detailed insulation between the primary and the secondary would be realized initially by two chambers with one of these chambers being filled only with the windings of the primary and the other of these chambers being filled only with the windings of the secondary. However, with such an arrangement there would exist only slight coupling between the primary and the secondary and thus an undesirably high stray inductance. If, on the other hand, the number of chambers were selected to be substantially larger, the transformer becomes more expensive and unnecessarily large. Moreover, a larger core would be required. Consequently, in the past, no television receiver has been introduced that included an SMPS transformer.